Forecasters suggest Desjoyeaux will have a race to the finish though. Against himself. He needs to keep his foot down and his speeds if he is to be in Les Sables d’Olonne in time to miss out on a muscular beat across the top of the Bay of Biscay. Were he to catch the brunt of the contrary breezes it would likely be Sunday before he could join the huge crowds who are expected to welcome the victor in Les Sables d’Olonne.

Records are a bonus along the way. To beat the 2004-5 Vendée Globe mark set by Vincent Riou of 87 days, 10 hours and 47 minutes, Michel Desjoyeaux will need to cross the finish in Les Sables d’Olonne before 23h49 on 4th February. This seems probable, as his latest ETA is between 15h on 31st January and midnight on 1st February. Should he achieve this the skipper of Foncia will improve on Riou’s time by around four days, sailing around the world in 83 days.

The skippers, in effect, were pretty accurate in their pre-start predictions in terms of the speed. While the holy grail – under 80 days – was widely touted, it will not be beaten. What could not be taken account of then was the extra course length.

Jean Le Cam, speaking at the press conference at the start suggested: “….we should be around 80 days, if we consider that we can go 8 to 9% faster than in the last Vendée Globe. When we have seen what we can do and know how good these boats are… we should manage to do that.”
Mike Golding had a similar forecast: “ With the polars (predicted target speeds) we have, we may well finish in under 80 days. It’s possible, but the weather will have to be just right.”

In reality both were on the money with their estimates. In rough figures Desjoyeaux should be 5% quicker than 2004-5 on a course 5% longer.

Riou’s time might then also be beaten by Roland Jourdain, who is due to finish between 3rd and 5th February. Time and technology has moved on massively, since the dreams of novelist Jules Verne. Today, in a single-handed non stop race with no external weather routing round a fixed course - it is nevertheless possible to get close to that vision of the French novelist who realized the adventures of Phileas Fogg.

Jourdain has still got Armel Le Cléach to worry about, as well as the prospects of the Azores High (V2.0) which is predicted to form two days in front of him just around where Desjoyeaux has been sailing through the last 24 hours, making 13 to 15 knots in SW’ly wind. Le Cléach has made 142 miles in the last day on him and is now 313 miles behind Veolia Environnement.

Sam Davies should return to the Northern Hemisphere, crossing the Equator, tomorrow. She is expected to have a relatively simple Doldrums and has been averaging 9.1 knots.

Brian Thompson’s passage up the South Atlantic can perhaps be considered a dividend for some of the time spent holding Bahrain Team Pindar together, and it is interesting to note how some of the skippers who somehow seemed feted in the Big South have been back taxed in the South Atlantic, while those such as Thompson who paid their dues then are now getting a decent run. In the regular trade winds conditions he is making 14 knots, while Dee Caffari has slowed this afternoon. She admitted today that her mainsail is giving so little drive and requires further repair in the Doldrums.

In the Southern Hemisphere, Arnaud Boissières is suffering from a similar situation (to Roland Jourdain): forced to sail close to the coast of Brazil, he is having to deal with light winds, while his former companions from the Horn, Caffari and Thompson are extending their lead all the time. Meanwhile, the sailor from Arcachon on the Atlantic coast of France is also facing a number of problems on board making his life that bit more complicated: a leak in his ballast, a speedo that is not working properly, problems with his autopilots and he is going to be running low on fuel.

Michel Desjoyeaux, Foncia: “All is well on Foncia. The weather is very different from yesterday. The wind got up steadily during the night. So that’s why I took down the big spinnaker and put up a smaller sail. 600m² of sail enabled us to keep moving and allowed me to sleep too! When I lowered the spinnaker the wind was up to 28 knots and since then, we’ve been making good speeds. The sea is getting rougher, but the sun is out, although the sea temperature is dropping off. It’s down to 17.5° now. I’m not surprised to see Roland (Jourdain) slowed down, as he’s having a hard time of it getting across the ridge of high pressure. I’ve got 1300 miles left. 1344 to be precise. And he’s 50% of that distance behind me, so that’s fine for me.”

Roland Jourdain (Véolia Environnement): “ It’s certainly not easy out here. How can I explain ? It wasn’t a good film but Doldrums II was better then the first Doldrums. To begin with there are some great things to see. A wonderful sunset and magnificent starry skies. When I turned off the light, I could see a lot of jellyfish glowing under the water. All sorts of colours. It was superb. There are people, who would slow down to see what I saw! But apart from that it’s basically a case of there being no wind. I don’t know how Mich got his hands on the keys. But since he’s been in the Atlantic, he has been opening the gates and letting himself in and then closing them behind him. It’s not nice for those behind. I’ve been through the lot, as far as the weather is concerned. At the Horn, I said, there is always the Doldrums. And look what happened. After the Doldrums, there was always the stretch back to Les Sables and guess what? Here we go again ! The suspense is missing. Sorry about that, but it’s not my fault. I’ve been doing my best, but he doesn’t want to help. He’s the one that’s to blame. Go on Mich’, there’s still time. You’ve already won the race. Just wait for me a little bit !”